


Safe and Sound (hold your ground)

by Bright_Elen



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Friendship, M/M, POV Cassian Andor, Robot/Human Relationships, Shovel Talk, Star Wars Rare Pairs Exchange 2017, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-02-06 10:03:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12815166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bright_Elen/pseuds/Bright_Elen
Summary: Everyone needs somebody in their corner.





	Safe and Sound (hold your ground)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smaragdbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/gifts).



**0.5 ABY**

In the cold dark of hyperspace, the ship was quiet. Most of Rogue One was asleep, sprawled over jump seats (Jyn), or each other (Baze and Chirrut), or curled up behind the comm console (Bodhi), but Cassian was still staring into the streak of blue through the viewport.

“You should try to rest,” K-2 said, voice low.

Cassian sighed. “I’m too keyed up.”

K-2 looked at him with head tilted for a moment. Then he glanced back at the others. He reached out his hand.

“Try it over here.”

It was risky, doing this out in the open, but Cassian was so, so tired, and everyone else was asleep. Besides, nothing calmed him like Kay’s touch. He stood, crossed to the pilot’s seat, and let himself be pulled onto the droid’s lap, metal arms wrapping around him.

He let out a sigh of relief as he rested his head on Kay’s shoulder. The familiar hums and whirrs of the droid’s internal systems were more comforting than any lullaby, and within moments the durasteel fingers carding through Cassian’s hair had his breath deepening, his thoughts drifting further and further into sleep.

“Thanks, Kay,” he murmured.

“Of course, Cassian.”

He must have slept, because the next thing he knew, K-2 was talking to someone else.

“Cassian is...ill,” he was saying, and even semiconscious Cassian recognized his boyfriend’s attempt at a lie. “He requires...care.”

“It’s okay,” Bodhi said from very close, and that snapped Cassian awake like a bucket of cold water. Not that alertness helped; there was no good explanation for sleeping in K-2’s lap. There was no way to fix this. After years of careful secrecy, they’d been found out, and Bodhi…

Bodhi was looking at them both with - fondness? He smiled at Cassian. “I think it’s sweet.”

Cassian blinked, a dozen threats and bribes all fighting to be said, all useless in his current situation. “Bodhi, you...we...” He bit his lip. “Nobody else knows.”

The friendly smile turned sad. “I won’t tell anyone,” Bodhi assured them. “I’m good at keeping secrets, yeah?”

Cassian’s heart started to slow down.

“Yes,” K-2 agreed. “More so than most organics.”

“Anyway,” Bodhi said, “I wanted to ask you about the next part of the mission. I had some ideas about comm frequencies…”

* * *

 

**Three Weeks Later**

“I had an interesting talk with Kay-tu the other day,” Bodhi said. It was an almost offhand remark, said while the pilot sorted through the safe house’s inventory, but it activated Cassian’s well-honed sense of paranoia anyway.

“Oh?” he said casually, continuing his work on turning the preserved food into something resembling a meal for the two of them while also trying to remember where all of the weapons in the room were. Not that Bodhi would (probably) hurt him. Or that he would hurt Bodhi more than he absolutely had to. Hell, probably not even that much.

Having friends was strange and unsettling, sometimes.

“Yeah. He told me about how you two met,” Bodhi said, opening the first aid kit. “How you got together, too.”

“I’m lucky he’s such a terrible liar,” Cassian said, trying to keep his voice light. “We probably would have danced around each other for ages if he was better at it.”

Bodhi snorted. “That’s basically what he said.”

Cassian’s worry eased somewhat. He went back to filling a pot with water. Bodhi shuffled through medicine packaged in individual doses.

“Anyway, it got me thinking,” Bodhi said at last. “He doesn’t see it like this, but he’s in a bad position.”

Cassian didn’t freeze. He had too much spy experience to give away fear like that. But he did turn around after he put the pot on the stove to boil. “What do you mean?”

Bodhi looked him steadily in the eyes. “I know you care a lot about each other,” he said, “But so do plenty of other couples. Some of those couples break up.”

Cassian crossed his arms. “We’ve been together for years. We’re fine.” Frowning, another thought occurred to him. “Is he unhappy? He hasn’t said anything to me.”

Bodhi shook his head. “No, I think he’s as happy with you as he probably would be in any other relationship, or situation, for that matter,” he said. “But that’s not what I’m saying. My point is, if you did break up, what would happen to him?”

As spy, Cassian was supposed to consider every possible contingency of every situation, but he’d never let the idea of breaking up with Kay cross his mind. It had taken the droid a while to convince Cassian that a relationship was something they could have in the first place, but even before that there had never been any doubt in Cassian’s mind about what he wanted.

But what about what Kay wanted? Had Cassian been taking the droid’s affections for granted?

He’d tried not to. And Kay was so open with his opinions, Cassian thought there was no way he could ever mistake his feelings.

“If we did break up,” Cassian said, and even just the words hurt to say, “he could go where he wanted. I wouldn’t stop him.”

Bodhi raised an eyebrow. “And what if he wanted to keep working with you? That would be painful, wouldn’t it? Or at least awkward. You’d let him do that?”

Cassian sensed a trap, and turned away to think. The water was beginning to boil. He threw in some dehydrated vegetables.

“It’s unlikely other Rebels would respect his autonomy,” Cassian said at last, hating the words. “If he really wanted to go, I wouldn’t try to stop him, but sending him away if he wanted to stay would be dangerous for him.”

“You’re damn right it would be,” Bodhi said. Cassian heard him stand up, and it took all his self-control not to whirl around brandishing a cookpot. Instead he deliberately turned to face his friend and the look of fiery determination in his eyes.

“It makes you both happy, and you’re both my friends,” Bodhi said, getting closer. Cassian swallowed. “So right now I’m glad you’re together, truly. And if you break up, that’s your business.” His voice changed, compressing into something with an edge. “But if you don’t do everything in your power to keep him safe, no matter your relationship status…” Bodhi stopped, inches from Cassian. “Well. He’s a terrible liar, but I’m not.”

Cassian had stared down slavers, crime lords, and Imperial officers, but somehow none of that had prepared him for a frighteningly protective Bodhi Rook. 

To be fair, before he'd never cared about the well-being or opinions of the person threatening him. Friendship was definitely unsettling.

Bodhi raised an eyebrow.

“Understood,” Cassian managed.

Smiling brightly, Bodhi stepped back. “Good.”

When Cassian turned back to his cooking, he was sweating, and not because of the boiling water.

* * *

**Four Days Later**

After the mission, after flying back to base, after the debrief, Cassian finally thumbed the lock to the door of his quarters and trudged inside.

Kay was already sitting on his bunk. “Hello, Cassian.”

Weary as he was, Cassian smiled. “Kay.” He dropped his gear against the wall, took off his parka, and put his arms around his boyfriend’s shoulders, resting their foreheads together. Years ago it had been strange to have to close his eyes against the light of his partner’s optics, but he’d quickly adapted to it. Now he found that particular spectrum and brightness reassuring.

Metal hands came to rest on Cassian’s shoulderblades. “No injuries? Illness?”

“No.”

Kay hummed, pleased. “Good. I think Bodhi has been a positive influence on you.”

“Who said anything about Bodhi?” Cassian pulled away - just far enough to give Kay a good looking-over. His hands followed his eyes, brushing over K-2’s plating, joints, seams, thorough since it had been over a week since they’d seen each other. He noticed some de-icer residue buildup around Kay’s elbow joints.

“Please. I know you,” Kay said as Cassian dug rags and some cleaning oil out of his locker. “Historically, you're thirty-eight percent more likely to sustain damage of some kind on solo missions. And while I'd need more data to achieve statistical significance, thus far Bodhi has had a greater effect size than other comrades.”

Sitting on the bed, Cassian spread an old towel across his lap and pulled Kay’s arm closer before he started wiping at the residue. “He's been a good friend to me, yeah,” Cassian agreed. “It’s still strange sometimes, but it’s good. I hope I don’t let him down.” For more than one reason, though his boyfriend didn’t need to know that.

Kay tilted his head in that particular way that implied mild exasperation. “The odds of that happening are low.”

Cassian smiled. He finished cleaning Kay’s elbow, stood, and moved to the other side. “What about you? I mean, you’ve been more friendly with all of our crew than with anyone else before Scarif, but…”

“Bodhi is my closest friend, yes,” Kay said. “And I would agree that having any friends at all, let alone enough to establish a ranking system, is strange.”

Kay’s left elbow had less buildup, and Cassian stood to put the cleaning supplies away. He wiped his own hands and shed his jacket, pants and boots. Kay stood so that Cassian could slide into bed as soon as he was undressed, the better to avoid ‘excessive heat loss’, as the droid put it, then sat back down on the sliver of mattress Cassian left for him on the narrow bunk.

Eyes glowing softly, Kay brushed fingers over Cassian’s hair, shoulders, waist. Cassian rolled onto his stomach, and Kay’s hand drifted to the back of the human’s neck, pushing in blunt circles at his tense muscles.

Whole body starting to relax at the touch, Cassian sighed in contentment. “I don’t know for sure,” he murmured, already drifting to sleep, “But I think you might be Bodhi’s best friend, too.”

Hands moving to Cassian’s shoulders, Kay hummed thoughtfully.

Before he fell the rest of the way asleep, one last thought moved fuzzy and sluggish through Cassian’s head: he would rest easier, knowing that at least one person would take Kay’s side over his.

**Author's Note:**

> Come love and appreciate Bodhi, K-2 and Cassian with me here: [bright-elen](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/bright-elen).


End file.
